EMBLEMS and the moral dimension of educating the young in England.
The tradition of the Emblem book was in decline in Europe in the eighteenth century but the need for moral tales and allegorical exemplars remained strong in education and this is an example of the popularisation of the emblem book for young readers.
Text by: John Huddlestone Wynne (1743-1788) Wood engravings by: John Bewick (1760-1795)
Tales for youth: in thirty poems : to which are annexed, historical remarks and moral applications in prose. Printed by J. Crowder for E. Newbery, the corner of St. Paul's Church-yard, London. 1794
John Bewick (1760-1795) was an acclaimed wood engraver during the eighteenth century in England, although in later years his reputation was overshadowed by his older brother Thomas Bewick (1753 – 1828) who gained global fame for his natural history illustrations. John Bewick focussed entirely on book illustration and this example is typical.
The relatively small scale of the illustrations is typical of the wood engravings at that time which conformed to the size of the available boxwood blocks. To view the images at around the scale of the original; take a plastic ruler or cloth tape and adjust the size of the image on screen to match.
The images below can be clicked to full screen. The following button links go to the original publication at the page that begins the description of the particular emblem.
The copy these link to is in The Florida State University Libraries
The original proof engravings for all of these images are in the British Museum but unusually for the BM the illustrations online are very low resolution.
All images have been scanned in colour from an original copy and converted to black and white via PhotoShop to reduce the yellow/brown and related staining on the pages and the backing typeset show-through. The Florida State Uni copy is in colour so will give an indication of the original condition and image contrast of this converted black and white copy.
Match scale on screen to plastic ruler or cloth tape to view at original size.
Copper engraved frontispiece by Thomas Cook.
